2012-12-22
2012-12-30
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>>> right now on andrea mitchell reports, senator majority leader harry reid is expected to speak at any moment now. president obama is back at the white house. his call to congressional leaders seem to have fallen on deaf ears. reid, predicting the country will go over the fiscal cliff and blames it on house speaker john boehner. >> the american people i don't think understand the house of representatives is operating without the house of representatives. it's being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker. john boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than about keeping the nation on firm financial footing. >> boehner's office's response? we've done our part. it's the senate democrats fall. but will the speaker call his members back before time runs out? >> at the last moment is the way these things normally happen. i think that can happen again. it just depends on putting egos aside a little bit and putting the best interests of the american people first. >> plus, keeping our kids safe, is arming educators the symptom or adding to the problem. >>> and can any

, is it? >> this is not about leadership. 1,337 days, harry reid hasn't pass add a budget. they have been in control the whole time. this fiscal cliff was predictable. we knew this was going to happen two years ago. and don't forget, these are the bush-obama tax cuts. all the president needs to do is actually propose some spending cuts. i think with geithner's admission that the debt ceiling will be burst through on december 31st clearly shows it's a problem. it's time to cut spending, not for now but future generations that have to pay this off. >> it seems to me, congressman gohmert, the bush tax cuts have been law since 2001-2003. it seems if the president doesn't want to go over the fiscal cliff, you guys pass the bill, harry reid could do something he hasn't done in over three years, pass it in the senate, give it to the president, and nobody's taxes are going to go up, crisis averred and then they can spend team after the new year negotiating tax reform, entitlement reform, living within our means. why don't they just do that? >> well, they could, but they want to demonize the house

with the speaker and mix mcconnel and harry reid to see if they can avoid going off the fiscal curb on january 1st. today harry reid emphasized that there is ome one reason why they are unable to reach an agreement so far. >> this has been going on for years. they cannot cross over the threshold. people are not propose iing mak the taxes like them. john boehner could not even pass the tax proposal he passed over there. he said no, can't do that. didn't he bring it up for a vote? >> tonight, speaker boehner's office put out this statement. >> joining me now are our guests. clearly the positioning game continues. harry reid saying we did our job months ago. do you think we til would be@posturing stage at the end of that white house meeting tomorrow? >> in your introduction you made the fundamental point here which is that this agreement before the end of the year, simply cannot go forward unless john by nor is willing to let it do so with majority democrats in the house. if we go over the curve as you put it, they can vote for a large tax decrease becaused off of the new rates that would be reset. t

, including that man, harry reid, the majority leader of the senate. we've been getting mixed signals. the biggest signal we got was regarding the house which is coming back to -- reconvening sunday night, and that brought the market back in a big way, but now we're hearing from mitch mcconnell and let's bring in eamon javers there on capitol hill, i mean, the rumor had been, a lot of traders talking here, eamon, that maybe there's a dell brewing between the president and the senate. that doesn't sound like anything is going on right now according to rich mcconnell. >> what we got was a facebook post from scott brown who said he was come back to washington and jumping on an airplane to review some new proposal from the president that they expected to get. the whole afternoon has been spent by reporters trying -- trying to figure out what was going on. now harry vaed responding to mcconnell so let's right to it. >> he's upset because, quote, the phone never rang. he complains i've not delivered solutions to the fiscal cliff. he's in error. we all know that in july of this year we passe

connell is at the capitol and assuming he's in contact with harry reid and their staffs are going back and forth. the question has been every single day we've been into these negotiations. what is the threshold that republicans are willing to take to avert the fiscal cliff. there's their 400,000. so everyone who makes $400,000 their taxes would stay the same. would that be acceptable. if there is no deal to be reached we do know that harry reid will try to move forward on monday with the bill for those making $250,000 or below. so that's what we need to see how it will work there. there are types of sweeteners they can do. mitch mcconnell is a tough place and this is the underreported part of the story. he has to figure out a deal that gets through the senate and doesn't make john boehner look too bad in the house and there are a lot of conservatives in the house that don't want to do any type of deal that would raise taxes on anybody even though they'll go up on the entire country the first tax hike in 20 years after monday night. >> and one would also assume that mitch mcconnell would have to

is returning and will be in session tomorrow for the same purpose. senate majority leader harry reid is trying to determine what kind of bill he can get through the senate with limited republican support. meanwhile, governor neil abercrombie of hawaii tonight announced that lieutenant governor brian schatz is as fit to feel the seat of the passed senator daniel inouye. he will leave hawaii for washington tonight and is expected to be sworn in sometime tomorrow afternoon. the democrats are wasting no time in the event harry reid needs the vote to avert the fiscal cliff. but the house? a different story. speaker john boehner held a conference call with republican leadership today, and basically decided to do nothing. there are no immediate plans to return to washington. even as that decision is made, how members have 48 hours to get there. house republican leadership released a statement today reading in part, the house has acted on two bills which collectively would avert the entire fiscal cliff if enacted. those bills await action by the senate if the senate will not approve and send them to t

connell, and harry reid to the white house this afternoon for a fiscal cliff summit. >> here we are five days from the new year, and we might finally start talking. >> today's white house meeting might be the last chance to come to an agreement. that's because it takes time for a bill to work its way through both chamber of commerce. >> i don't know time wise how it can happen now. >> under senate rules, the only way a bill could make its way through the procedural hurdles in time is if every senator agrees not to. they'll have 24 hours. outside the beltway, carlino will be watching. >> everyone is kind of in a wait-and-see and fingers-crossed per expect tichb right now. >> since 1930 this is only the fifth time congress has worked after christmas. and today's summit is the first time president obama has met face to face with congressional leaders since mid-november. duarte, tick tock. >> thank you. >>> general schwarzkopf is being remembered this morning as a great hero and tactician. as teresa garcia the general died yesterday at his home in tampa from complications related to pneumonia. >> repo

it does, the senate majority leader harry reid is expected to weigh in, in just about ten minutes on the looming fiscal cliff. reid and his fellow senators are under intense scrutiny after john boehner said the democratic controlled senate must act first on proposals already passed by his chamber. we will bring you reid's remarks as they happen. >>> as the clock ticks down toward the fiscal cliff, washington has a new worry the debt ceiling, treasury secretary tim geithner says the united states will hit its legal borrowing limit on monday. alison kosik is in new york. i feel like it's groundhog day. >> i know it really is. what's old is new again, right, carol? let me kind of back up the bus here. we start talking about the debt ceiling and i know people's eyes glaze over. let me tell you exactly what the debt ceiling is. it's a cap set by congress of the amount of money the federal government can borrow. right now the ceiling is at $16.394 trillion and treasury secretary tim geithner said earlier this week we could hit that debt ceiling on monday, on new year's eve and the treas

going on right now, though the action is with the senate majority leader harry reid, minority leader mitch mcconnell trying to put together some alternative package that could in fact make its way through both houses. after they met with the president on friday, they sounded cautiously optimistic. here's what they had to say. take a listen. >> we'll be working hard to try to see if we can get there in the next 24 hours. and so i'm hopeful and optimistic. >> i'm going to do everything that i can. i'm confident senator mcconnell will do the same. but everybody, this is whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect. >> and t.j., there's a lot of pressure on lawmakers and on the president to get something done. we've already seen the markets impacted by this. a lot of americans have just expressed frustration and concern over what's going to happen to their tax rates in the new year if in fact lawmakers can't get a deal. so there's a lot of public pressure to get something done on this. and of course, time is really running out. t.j.? >> kristen welker for us at the white house. than

anybody is actually doing anything right now. gregg: what about harry reid? what's his, does he have anything at all maybe towards the end of the week he will put on the table? i've been hearing he will put to a vote an extension of the bush tax cuts for anybody making under $250,000 a year, extend unemployment benefits for some 2 million people that are about to lose them. what are you hearing? >> right. he sounded pretty pessimistic this morning but that could change and there's, kind of a fight, procedurally between the house and the senate in a sense that if reid originates a bill in the senate that would do what you said, people in the house say, well that would be unacceptable because the constitution requires revenue bills to originate in the house. but there is this bill that the house did pass a while back extending tax cuts for everybody. the senate could actually amend that bill. it originated in the house and then send it back and actually get somewhere. you have to remember that john boehner actually gave in on the principle of raising tax rates for the highest earners.

of six attending. vice president biden, harry reid, house minority leader nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell and john boehner representing the republicans. brianna keilar is live from washington. is anybody optimistic that a deal could be done today around a table? >> i will tell you the optimism is sort of sinking. senate majority leader harry reid said he doesn't see how it can get done by january 1st. we heard from president obama before he left from his vacation that he was optimistic. logistically the white house will tell you it's possible. when you listen to what you're hearing some of these congressional leaders say, there's a lot of posturing laying blame to the other side if we do go over the cliff. take a listen. >> republicans are not about to write a blank check for anything senate democrats put forward because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. >> we are here in washington working while the members of the house of representatives are out watching movies, watching their kids play soccer, basketball, doing all kinds of things. they should be here. >> now, house sp

to see you. within the past hour, senate majority leader harry reid spoke on the floor. he really gave it to john boehner. he got pretty personal. >> he did. he really laid the blame at boehner's lap. talked about the fact that he was surprised that the house isn't even in session, which is true, but let's get real. the senate came back into session this morning. most importantly, he was very, very pessimistic about getting anything done before we reach that fiscal cliff. listen to what he said. >> the speaker just has a few d days left to change his mind, but i have to be very honest, mr. president. i don't know time wise how it can happen now. >> let me kind of lay out the state of play. i'll try to keep it out as much as possible. this is something everybody is focused on. the ball is in the senate's court right now. so what senator reid, who you saw earlier, and the president, what they are trying to figure out is whether or not they can craft what the president called a scaled-back bill, which is what he campaigned on. raising taxes for everybody making more than $250,000 a year a

're looking to play nice. today, senator harry reid blasted the speaker for refusing to even vote on a democratic plan that would protect 98% of americans. >> everyone knows that if they had brought up the house -- i'm sorry, the senate-passed bill that would give relief to everyone making less than $250,000 a year, it would pass overwhelmingly. it's being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker. >> a dictatorship of the speaker. and here's house speaker boehner office responded. senator reid should talk less and legislate more. legislate more? what legislation has speaker boehner been working on while on vacation? while we're about to go over the cliff, the gop has been pointing fingers at the president. one gop aide says talks have failed because "the president made a strategic miscalculation and overreached. he picked a fight." picked a fight? sorry, that's not going to fly. the president has come to the table with numerous proposals. he isn't picking a fight. he's fighting for the american people. we all want a deal. but we will not give up our core principles. the preside

is what has to happen. mitch mcconnell and harry reid have to come to agreement. by tomorrow, possibly. have something they can vote on in the senate tomorrow night or possibly even monday. send it to the house of representatives where the president says the house speaker john boehner should put it on the floor, regardless if it gets the majority of the majority. that's the traditional way of doing things. the president said if any of the process fails, any of the steps along the way we outline, a senate agreement, vote in the senate, moving to the house, if it fails, the president wants a basic bill on the floor that sets those income levels at $250,000 above, to have everyone have their taxes rice rice. a lot of ifs and but, a flurry of last-minute activity, focused on the congressional leaders in the wes wing of the white house. >> like you said it will take a badda bing, badda boom to get this done. >>> joining me now is ed o'keefe and staff writer for "roll call," jonathan strong. thank you, both, for being here. i want to listen to more of what the president said on friday. i'll

are in the senate and it will be up to harry reid and mitch connell and the president to try to come to a compromise to avoid the tax hikes and spending cuts that go into effect on the first of the year. president obama had been working with house speaker john boehner and trying to get a big deal that dealt with tax reform and deficit reduction. that fell apart and talks have largely been stalled this entire time. there was a lost pressure to get something done. we have seen some of the impacts of the fiscal cliff. consumers saying they have been more cautious with their holiday spending because of the uncertainty in washington. economists warn it could get worse and the markets could be foiled if we go over the fiscal cliff. taxes will go up for the average american by about $2,000 and could put us back into a recession. >> which nobody wants to see. kristen welker in hawaii. the president is coming back, but they haven't gotten the 48 hour notice. they are very much out there in play. thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it. when the senate returns tomorrow morning, there will be a new e

are still pretending to work. >> people don't like congress. >> it is up to the senate to act. >> harry reid is working on legislation. >> harry reid, the congress and the president. >> the president is cutting his hawaii vacation short to deal with the fiscal cliff. >> really, it's kind of like falling down stairs. we have a dysfunctional congress. >> speaker boehner needs to bring his party along. >> it's pretty clear that he could not bring them along. >> john boehner doesn't seem to have full control of his caucus. >> they were this close. >> the republicans will be blamed. >> they were this close to a solution. >> we're going to head over that cliff. >> i know it's hard for the republicans. the minute those leaders move forward, they get viscerated. >> guns shouldn't be available for anyone, any time, anywhere. >> the conversation still wages on. >> its plan to add more guns to schools. >> a completely dumb-ass idea. >> i don't think the nra is listening. >> you can call it whatever you want to call it. >> congress hasn't confirmed the director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and fire

exactly where they go from here. essentially what john boehner is saying, you go first, harry reid. harry reid is trying to jam mitch mcconnell into allowing this vote to go forward without the 60-vote threshold, something that's necessary for virtually every vote here in the senate and mitch mcconnell says it's time for president obama to lead. the threshold question is, can something pass the house of representatives? can john boehner put something on the floor that needs the majority of democrat support that will not get republican support and none to speak of that would allow taxes to go up for people making more than $250,000 or 400,000 as was in the president's last offer and the answer to that question remains very, very unlikely. so we are where we are. this ain't schoolhouse rock, that's for sure. it's not like the house passes a bill, the senate passes a bill. this is a stand yau and the looks like the ultimate version of white house gridlock. >> right. and you mentioned the threshold. we have senator murkily on later today to talk about how crucial the filibuster is. i want to

at the white house today to try to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff. in the meantime, harry reid refers to john boehner's leadership as a dictatorship. not helpful. >>> but first, to your top stories this morning -- retired general norman schwarzkopf died thursday at his home in tampa, florida, he's credited with devising the plan that drove saddam hussein's forces out of kuwait in 1991. known as stormin' norman for his strong personality. >>> the general said that he did agree with president george h.w. bush's decision not to follow saddam's decision into baghdad. >> ladies and gentlemen, when we here, we were 150 miles away from baghdad and there's nobody between us and bagsd. if our intention to take iraq, to destroy the country, if it had been our intention to overrun the country, we could have done it unopposed from this position at that time. >> schwarzkopf was honored for his service with the medal of freedom. queen elizabeth even awarded him with a knight hood. >>> former president george h.w. bush praised his leadership yesterday. general schwarzkopf is survived by his wife and three k

. they want to see what kind of bill harry reid brings forward on the floor. he is looking at republican leader mitch mcconnell to say what are you willing to accept? so here we are. there is blame game going on. there is lot of maneuvering still. bottom line we'll probably meet this weekend heading up to the fiscal cliff and we'll see what the final offer is to see if they can push it across the finish line. gregg: mike, we're getting word the president has nod no meaningful conversation with anybody own capitol hill, especially john boehner and yet we do hear, that, you know, the seeds have been talking. that staffers have actually been negotiating. what do you hear? >> reporter: that's right. we heard there have been ongoing discussions, taking place throughout the christmas holiday but at this point republicans are saying they took a beating, if you will, trying to lead in the house, a deal that did not go very far. so they're saying, okay, harry reid, senate democrats, see what you can do, see what you put forward and see if it is good enough to possibly pass both the senate and the

? basically the ball is in the senate's court? >> all you have to do is look at what harry reid, the leader of the senate has been saying from day one. every time that speaker boehner put forth a common-sense plan to fix this problem, harry reid would say, right off the bat it is doa, dead on arrival. not one thing that speaker boehner proposed that reid said, oh, we can work with that. it's about scoring political points. the american people are tired of all of us, i understand that. we just make used car salesmen look good. that's the only group is below us. but we've got to get our act together, and prove to the american people that we can regain the trust that they once had in us and get the job done. and as you say, not kick the can down the road. they want to us work this out. i hope we do. >> let's talk about something a little more bright. the former marine stuck in mexico. if you don't know the story, he was basically trying to go on a surfing trip. an old winnebago and a bunch of surf boards and some sort of antique, torn apart gun that he wanted to use to hunt rabbits and birds.

on december 31st. senate majority leader harry reid is working to see if the scaled backpackage the president laid out last week can get through congress before monday. meantime, treasury secretary timothy geithner says the government will hit the debt ceiling on monday and he is launching an emergency plan to avert a crisis. amm eamon javers is live. what do we know? >> the president is coming back early, a couple days earlier than his vacation. did a little bit of jogging, working out in the gym over his vacation. now he will be,ing would out on this fiscal cliff. the senate is coming back and the house of representatives is going to have a conference call for all republicans later on today and then yesterday, we saw the secretary of the treasury, tim geithner, announced the $16.4 trillion debt limit is going to be reached by monday, that was a little bit surprising to people who haven't been following this kind of thing and raises the stakes for the fiscal cliff end game because the white house had wanted a debt ceiling deal as part of the overall deal here on the fiscal cliff. republicans

. the president, vice president biden, senate majority leader harry reid and house minority leader nancy pelosi on the democratic side. house speaker john boehner, mitch mcconnell representing the republicans. brianna keilar live from washington. what do we expect to happen today? any new offers from the president or house speaker? >> we don't know. right now, all eyes on the senate to see what senate majority leader harry reid can cobble together to get some republican support. technically, it's still possible to come to an agreement. that said, politically is a different story, and the prospects for coming to a deal are starting to dim. right now, we're hearing a whole lot of the blame game. a lot of public posturing from both sides as they prepare for the possibility of going over the cliff. let's listen to harry reid. >> we are here in washington working while members of the house of representatives are out watching movies and watching their kids play soccer and basketball and doing all kinds of things. they should be here. >> now, the speaker of the house, john boehner, sort of retorting t

president obama met with john boehner and nancy pelosi and harry reid and mitch mcconnell, so all the key congressional leaders. and listen to the president here. >> the american people are watching what we do here. obviously, their patience is already thin. this is deja vu all over again. america wonders why it is that in this town for some reason, you can't get stuff done in an organized timetable. why everything always has to wait until the last minute. well, we're now at the last minute. and the american people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. not right now. i just have to repeat. you know, outside of washington, nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern, over and over again. ordinary folks, they do their jobs. they meet deadlines. they sit down and they discuss things and things happen. if there are disagreements, they sort through the disagreements. the notion that our elected leadership can't do the same thing is mind boggling to them. and needs to stop. >> i just have to repeat, congress, you are te

and they are scattered throughout the country and taxes are going up on january 1st. let's listen to harry reid. he is not happy about the house and being away. he is the top senate democrat. >> we are here in washington working. we have the house of representatives out watching movies and watching their kids play soccer and basketball and doing all kinds of things. they should be here. >> here's a reality. reid said it's beginning to look to him as though we will plunge over the cliff come tuesday. they are keeping an eye on washington to see what develops. since it looks as though we are headed for higher taxes, i want to bring in terry savage, a personal finance expert for the chicago sun times. terry, let's walk through the higher taxes. we heard little class families are likely to lose $2,000 a year. you break it down this way for single earners making $85,000 a year if their take home pay is $2500 every two weeks. when the higher taxes kick in, they will see their pay go down $120. that's not a little. we are taking a major hit. >> this is big money. almost $400 a month. when you add up a cou

behind closed doors with house speaker boehner, senate majority leader harry reid and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell talking about doing something to keep more than trillion dollars in tax increases and cuts from taking effect next week. also joining that party today, america's happy warrior. vice president joe biden will be there. while some appear ready to compromise others are still ducking, dodging, trying to dump the blame elsewhere. >> we all have our ideas and in the senate, you're right. we probably another 40, 50, 60 of saying that we're ready to both raise revenues and control entitlements. when's the missing ingredient? it is presidential leadership. >> i think in the end we'll get a deal. the question is the timing. >> am hopeful there will be a deal that avoids the worst parts of the fiscal cliff, namely taxes going up on middle class people. >> it's pretty apparent that we are not going to do what we've been called to do. this is 112th congress. we have had two years to deal with quote the fiscal cliff. >> let's bring in our man at the white house, peter alexande

. senate majority leader harry reid, minority leader mitch mcconnell will have to work together. a lot of focus shifts to mcdonnell. he has to try to get something that will pass with republicans that they can get through the house and senate, but i think president obama certainly has a role to play. remember, he is the one who ran on the platform. >>> you heard him map out on friday. he would like a scaled-back version of the grand bargain, something to prevent taxes going up, and also lay the groundwork potentially for deficit reduction in the future. i think you will see president obama cut his vacation short, and continue to play a role in those negotiations. richard. >>> kristin, over the weekend, he attended the funeral for the late senator inouye, who he has called an inspiration to him. what did you see in that service? >> well, more than 20 members of congress attended, mostly democrats, majority leader harry reid spoke and praised senator inouye for his partisan spirit, reaching across the aisle. of course in an earlier memorial service, the president called the late senator

, was senator mitch mcconnell and here we have the majority leader in the senate, harry reid. let's listen in for a second. >> the house has reported by the press and we all know, one of the plans didn't have a name, it wasn't plan b. i don't know which plan it was because they've had a number over there. but this plan was to show the american people that the $250,000 ceiling on raising taxes wouldn't pass in the house. why didn't they have that vote? because it would have passed. they wanted to kill it. the speaker wanted to show everybody that it wouldn't pass the house. but he couldn't bring it up for vote because it wouldn't pass. republicans -- a myriad of republicans think it's the fair thing to do and of course every democrat would vote for that. the republican leader finds himself frustrated that the president has called on him to help address the fiscal cliff. he's upset because, quote, the phone never rang. he complains that i have not passed the resolution to pass the fiscal cliff but he's in error. we all know that in july of this year we passed in the senate the relief that wo

and harry reid. republicans mitch mcconnell and john boehner. those four members of congress are expected to make the drive from the capital, which you see on the right, down pennsylvania avenue, to the white house, there on the left. and we expect them to enter through a side door on the west side of the mansion. that's the entrance right there. and they'll meet with the president. in the oval office. beginning, we're told, at 3:00 p.m., less than one hour from now. and just four days ahead of the so-called fiscal cliff. so a very big moment in the nation's capital. and to walk us through what might happen we turn to jessica yellin, a chief white house correspondent. jessica, we said up front, it is a long shot, give us a best case scenario. >> reporter: the best case scenario would be that all the leaders walk out of this meeting and say they have a deal. the two senators say they can bring it to a vote, and none of their members will filibuster it. house speaker john boehner says he will bring it to the house floor for a vote before new year's eve and house minority leader nancy pelosi

from its christmas vacation to work on a deal today. sources tell us majority leader harry reid will be pushing a scaled back version of the fiscal cliff package that president obama laid out last week. it moved the tax hike needle to $400,000 per household. no word yet on when the house might come back with time ticking away. democrats are hoping that a scaled back plan could get through the house, senate and white house before that big ball drops on 2013. that would be sometime on december 30th or even on new years eve. we want to bring in jonathan allen. he's a senior national correspondent for politico. the top headline on politico is fiscal cliff deal increasingly unlikely. i think a lot of people are feeling that pessimism right now. what are you hearing? >> well, i think what you've got here, alena, is a nash equilibrium to borrow from economic theory and game theory. each of the players believe they are pursuing their optimal strategies given the strategies of the other players and there's no reason to change it. i think as observers of this, the american public, you can

. both sides still far apart, however, on taxes and spending cuts. senate majority leader harry reid says prospects for a deal by monday are still unlikely. there was a lot of movement, motion for not a lot of action. >> where were you yesterday? >> i was here. we were together. >> were we ever with our -- no. but there were duelling senate leaders just -- first mcconnell came on. and he said -- did you see either one of those? >> i did. >> did you see harry reid? >> there's no chance of -- >> but if you think -- i want to rise above. there was so little of anything close to that yesterday other than just the -- i mean, people at home must be like, it's the endless blaming and finger pointing and, you know, when one side says it's all the other side's fault and all the other side comes on and says people at home aren't going, wow, i believe you, harry. or i believe i, mitch. they're saying you're both losers, right? >> right. >> my real concern is this is what the current version of america actually voted for. >> the house is different. all politics is local. harry reid, you know which in

at the white house the president meets with all the key congressional leaders, top democrats harry reid and nancy pelosi leading republicans mitch mcconnell and john boehner. no deal can be reached in past without their cooperation. with the meeting comes a glimmer of hope. in the past all the ifisical cliff talks meetings like this have been the least productive of all. whether he meant to or not the senate majority leader may have spoken for a nation exhausted by seemingly endless fiscal cliff negotiations. >> what's going on here? >> reporter: what indeed. president obama returned to the white house in a grim mood. he met with no congressional leaders and said nothing about his efforts to avert the fiscal cliff, talks continue between senior white house and congressional staff, but that's been true throughout this entire saga. with the deadline looming there were dire predictions. >> come the first of this year americans will have less income than they have today. >> reporter: and recriminations. >> now republicans have bent over backwards. we stepped way, way ou

and the senate to avert the cliff. so now harry reid is believed to be crafting a plan of his own. it's expected to extend bush-era tax cuts. it would also include short-term spending cuts instead of the massive cuts that would occur if there is no deal. it would also patch up the alternative minimum tax that will hit even more middle class families and schedule a drop off for doctors. >> if republicans do give in and support the deal being put together by harry reid that deal is expected to be far less favorable than the potential deal they had been working on with president obama. >> republican strategist, frank luntz has been talking with voters, what is the chance you see this becomes the new compromise? >> i'm not sure if hooert side is watching very closely. we did a survey and we got two interesting questions. one that's very tough on republicans. we asked the american people who is the gop fighting for and representing, the number one answer, the rich the number two answer, big business, well back is number three hard-working taxpayers. by them fighting this on the

today between the president and the leaders, two republicans and two democrats. harry reid said the next 24 hours would be very important as he and mitch mcconnell put together something that would pass both of their caucuses. and then of course it would have to go to the house. the majority leader harry reid said he's readying a bill for a vote on monday to prevent a tax hike on incomes up to $250,000. senator reid said his bill will include unemployment benefits, a continuation of those. that would be sort of the plan b for democrats simply because what they would rather do is get a bill with senator reid working in conjunction with senator mcconnell. senator reid said he's awaiting good faith proposals from the republicans. president obama said after the meeting that he is modestly optimistic a deal can be reached, but as you can hear from senator reid, the president asked that if a deal between republicans and democrats cannot be reached, then the president wants just an up or down vote on what he wants, which is quite simply no income tax rates going up for people making $250,000 an

of bills of that never seen the light of day because every single time harry reid refuses to bring them up for a vote in the senate. so for this man 20 turnaround and stay that the republicans are dillydallying when it's the republicans who have been showing up in the house for two years and he's done nothing is adommable. the president is playing this very well. this is a masterpiece on his participate but it's also a complete obfiscation. and right now, juan williams, you tell me what president obama has said he would stand unand cut to balance the budget. >> he said he would change our rate of growth in the country, the cpi. >> can you believe talk. >> he's talking about medicare and republicans have talked about eligibility age. >> juan, double talk. give us specifics. >> if you limit the rate of growth, you will see that we will spend less money. that's what we want to do. >> the quintessential washington answer. it's the quintessential washington answer. now give me a specific. we have $3.6 trillion in spending. that's 1.1 trillion above what we can afford. what of the 1.1 trillion h

sent a letter to the honorable harry reid majority leader. and that's where he outline it is fact that in three business days, the summit government is going to run out of borrowing capacity. john, if there were a treasurer in a business who went to their boss and said by the way, three business days, the working capital account dies and as a result, you are not going to make payroll next week, that person would be fired. we get three days notice about hitting the debt ceiling? that seems absurd to me. >> it is not a surprise.rise we have known we were coming to this point and there are two months more -- geithner estimated in that letter that the ways in which the federal government can manage money will give about would months worth of head room, possibly even longer. february or march or -- where we really get to the -- rubber hits the road on that issue. so -- this is not a shock to anybody in government but the publication of this letter and the elevation of the issues in attempt was done in 2011. there was an early moatfication by treasury this was about to happen, trying to

. >> clayton: they all said the same thing. presidential meeting with the leaders yesterday. harry reid. >> juliet: vice president showed up. >> clayton: they must have been all on the same table hey whether we lee this table we will say modestly optimistic. listen to senator mitch mcconnell who may be the linchpin of this whole thing. he said i will take the ball and run with it in the senate. get a deal done. listen to the senator. >> we had a good meeting at the white house. we are engaged in discussions the majority leader and myself and the white house in the hopes that we can come forward sunday and have a recommendation that i can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference. we will be working hard to see if we can get there in the next 24 hours. so i'm hopeful and optimistic. >> charles krauthammer calling him a master negotiator. saying if it were left up to him he could solve the syrian civil war in a weekend. >> dave: he can get it done but there is still john boehner and the house republicans. i'm not modestly optimistic. anything through the hou

in america. wrong. >> majority leader harry reid is upset the usoc bought uniforms from china. >> they should be burned and start over again. john: people are desperate for jobs. isn't it outrageous we buy uniforms made overseas? no. in this stupid. let me bring in professional help. whnot to worry about sending work to other countries? >> a fundamental trade makes everybody off. it benefits both parties. john: they could have been made by american workers. >> but we are so much better at other things that making garments is not the comparative advantage. john: that is not a problem. those are factory jobs they're not so pleasant they're designed and marketed and sold and shipped in trucks made on machines built by americans. the chinese olympic team will fly to london on the american planes and this makes us richard? >> people don't get that. one could argue the uniforms were not manufactured in china, but grown in the soybean market and i was. they get bter wages we have lower prices. john: if made in america of people would be poor. another myth. overpopulation. asia is four. africa is for

on a deal. now, sources tell us majority leader harry reid will push a scaled-back version of the fiscal cliff package that president obama laid out on friday, which moved the tax hike needle to $400,000. no word yet on when the house of representatives might come back, but democrats say the only hope we have of something getting through the house, the senate and the white house may be a very last-minute deal. cnn radio's lisa is following developments on capitol hill right now. the ball is in senate majority leader harry reid's court it would seem right now, lisa. >> that's right. harry reid and the senate seem to be the only game in town right now with the senate returning today. we also know from sources, ali, that over this christmas break there were no conversations between the president and top-level republicans. sources from both parties are telling us they are watching the senate, especially the democratic leadership in the senate. we also know yesterday house republicans came out with a statement saying that he will act only after the u.s. senate acts. we're not sure what the se

in hawaii. to beat the january 1st deadline senate majority leader harry reid is said to be crafting his own fiscal package. it would extend the bush era tax cuts for households making less than $250,000, extend long-term unemployment, short-term spending cuts, and make a scheduled drop in medicare reimbursement to doctors. house speaker john boehner said they've had no communication with senator reid. >>> the exconwho ambushed and killed two volunteer firefighters in upstate new york may have murdered his sister. her body was found yesterday, and police say william spamglor had the same kind of military rifle used in the connecticut school massacre. he left behind a chilling note. >> reporter: the christmas eve fire in western new york burned seven homes to the ground, but police say william spangler wanted to do much worse. he planned to burn down the entire neighborhood and "do what i like doing best, killing people." the 62-year-old shot at firefighters from a nearby bank. he killed two of them before taking his own life. police found his note and three guns, including a bushmaster rifle

leader harry reid and the rest of the senate to find a passable solution. aides say reid's plan would avoid tax increases for people making less than $250,000, eliminate some big spending cuts and restore unemployment benefits. >> i think you're likely to see a two-step process here, one sort of dealing with the immediate dynamics so that you could in fact set up a situation where you could deal with the larger situation. >> reporter: without a deal, bush-era tax cuts will expire january 1st and deep spending cuts will set in. congress set up the deadline, hoping it would force a compromise. so far, that's backfired. also flying back on air force one is lieutenant governor brian schatz and will likely be sworn in later today. just before taking off, he tweeted that he's looking forward to supporting the president's agenda. reporting live in washington, i'm dan yeielle leigh. mara, back to you. >> thank you. >>> tim geithner is adding to the pressure to get the office calf cliff deal done. in an open letter wednesday, he warned the federal government may not be able to pay its bills on

. the senate convenes later today and senate majority leader harry reid told members to be prepared to address fiscal cliff issues through the weekend. reid is working on his own plan to get lawmakers to come together before the end of the year deadline. that plan would likely include letting the bush tax cuts expire for households making more than $250,000 a year and short term spending cuts instead of the massive long-term cuts that would happen if there is no deal. after our wednesday conference call, house republican leaders issued a statement saying they were waiting for the democratic controlled senate. the house will take this action on whatever the senate can pass they said but the senate first must act. in a sign of public frustration over the lack of a deal the coffee giant starbucks is asking employees in approximately 120 washington area cafes to write the words "come together" on cups for drink orders. >> we just wanted to have a subtle message of coming together and everyone being united. >> reporter: now a new problem making the fiscal cliff talks even

possible we've learned from sources as senate majority leader harry reid works to get republican support in the senate, which he will need if he's going to pass a bill. and so we're still waiting to see exactly what it will look like that the white house wants for the threshold on income tax rates to cut off at $250,000. we will see if that ultimately is what senate majority leader reid rolls out. as of this point in time, we're expecting this to be a limited measure to deal just really with the fiscal cliff, which was supposed to be appear incentive to deal with the long-term fiscal health of the country. not part of this, obviously looking at a big package. >> can you do this even if everything goes right? getting through the two houses. i don't think the house is anywhere near -- they couldn't get a million collars for the cap of the tax rates expiring. so what is the position of the white house aides and the people are you talking to there in terms much getting a deal done? >> well, the difference would be, and when you remember plan "b" failed. it failed to garner enough support amo

in days. >> washington remains in the same fiscal cliff clitalks. >> reporter: senator leader harry reid and john boehner are both frosty saying it's in the other guy's court saying to avert the largest tax hike in history and reid saying it's time for house republicans to put middle class families first. >> if we go past no deal, the markets are likely to decline in a significant way and involve most americans and they don't want to have themselves blamed for that. >> reporter: already stocks have dropped three days in a row over fiscal cliff fears. from wall street to main street, it is building. >> both parties to are to blame if they don't come up with something. >> we are really in what amounts to a fiscally irresponsible position trying to please everyone and please no one at all. >> reporter: even starbucks tries to hand out advice writing "come together" on every cup. >> reporter: washington could use a warm cup of coffee on a morning like this. complica complicating conversations going forward. treasury secretary, timothy geithner says on the 31st, the u.s. will hit the credit c

majority leader harry reid quickly moved the measure to a vote. minority leader mch mcconnell assured that no republicans block the bill. house speaker john boehner agreed to bring the bill to a vote on the house floor. and leader nancy pelosi with the number of votes needed to pass. >> what folks are looking for and all of us agree on this is action. they want to see that we are focused on them, not focused on our politics here in washington. >> reporter: that was the last time this group met more than a month ago. with time running out to forge a scaled-down compromise, can they agree on even the most basic elements, extending some income tax cuts, preventing pay cuts to medicare providers, fixing the alternative minimum tax. among the options to gain votes, averting an estate tax hike toll woo republicans. there's still time but no room for error. if congress doesn't act -- >> the impact psychologically and financially on americans of another plunge in the negative territory for the economy would be extremely harmful. >> reporter: and candy, as i said, those leaders are still meeti

go up. but cnn is told that senate democratic leader harry reid is privately warning colleagues if he's not sure the president's scaled back bill will pass both houses of congress, he won't even bring it up for a vote. the concern sources say is that a failed vote and going off the fiscal cliff would spook the markets even more. sources in both parties say the most likely scenario at this point is going off the fiscal cliff. why? after january 1st, when everyone's taxes go up, the new congress sworn this on january 3rd could vote to cut taxes. a much easier vote to cast for republicans as well as some democrats. as for the president, is he nhe scheduled to leave his family tonight, come back to washington tomorrow morning, in the hopes of helping his fellow democrats try to find enough republicans to pass his plan. but of course this goes without saying that was a plan that most if not all republicans campaigned very strongly against. >> the most likely scenario is actually did go off the cliff now. ryan liza is our correspondent from washington. you look at this and we're hearing ech

geithner sent a letter to harry reid, the senate majority leader, saying the united states government will hit its statutory debt limit on december 31st. that is the same day that we would go over the fiscal cliff. now the treasury has certain steps they can take to avoid breaching the debt ceiling that will carry the government through february or march, but at the moment in a technical sense treasury secretary geithner is telling the congress we're hitting the debt ceiling at the end of this year which is the part of the, as i mentioned, part of an effort to get congress to step in and act, not only on the fiscal cliff but on the debt ceiling, bill. >> thanks very much for the breaking news. we'll keep monitoring the situation. thanks, john harwood. a look now at financial sector and whether or not you should put your money in the banks. >> 12 months ago there was a lot of buzz about the regionals, but now it's the big banks that have done really, really well. we have the president and ceo at bell rock capital and jeffrey hart. welcome back. >> cassandra, how did we get that wrong,

leader senator harry reid has called on neil abercrombie to quickly appoint a successor before the end of the year. >>> ted kennedy jr., son of the late edward kennedy is considering a run for john kerry's senate seat, according to his brother former congressman patrick kennedy. "boston globe" reports that ted reached out to family members, friends and prominent democrats including john kerry about the possible run. he will likely faceoff against former senator scott brown who lost his seat to elizabeth warren in the november elections. those are your top stories. "reliable sources" at the top of the hour. now back to fareed zakaria "gps." >>> what would you dine a recession the fatd of a million jobs rested with you and just a few of us. nearly four years ago that was the question facing steve rattner a former fund on the newly formed auto task force. early 2009 the dow jones had recently had its largest single day point drop. 2.6 million jobs had been lost and banks and businesses were frequently failing. few companies were as battered as the big three automakers and in january of th

will reckoconvene thursday. harry reid has the task of trying to cobble something together that can get some republican support in the senate and also get some republican support in the house and make it through congress. that's a difficult task. the white house saying they want the threshold for income tax rates expiring to be $250,000 and above. they are back to their initial negotiating position. and so between that and the lack of discussions going on, you sort of understand why you're hearing from democrats and republicans this pessimism about going over the fiscal cliff. privately, that's all what we're hearing that it is a real possibility to go over the cliff, even though there's a possibility of still working out a deal. but this is a last-ditch effort for sure. >> it's incredible that privately they are also saying that. everyone thought once we get closer to the deadline, they are going to get it together, come up with some sort of deal. if this stopgap measure does actually pass before january 1st, is the president prepared to go back to d.c. and cut his vacation short? >> report

and vice president biden are sitting down with house leaders. the guest list includes harry reid, who this time yesterday said he didn't see any way the fiscal cliff could be avoided. whatever the case, our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin will be watching. what can we really expect to come out of this meeting this afternoon? >> well, alina, we're not sure what really will come out of it. the ideal scenario would be if all sides agree to a scaled-down version of the fiscal cliff agreement that the president and spe speaker boehner had been discussing weeks ago and then senator mcconnell would agree that no republicans would block it in any way if he can promise that. he argues that he can't really make that promise but if e he could then speaker boehner would promise to bring it to a vote on the floor. all sides would shake hands and we'd have a deal before new year's. that seems highly unlikely. but that's what all sides are pushing for today. >> i think we can all agree that tax rates are the biggest sticking point. so what specific issues are your sources saying that

and the agreement is going down. i mean, for example, senate majority leader harry reid is name calling and calling john boehner a dictator . this is what he had to say. >> the american people i don't think the house representative is operating without the house of representative. it is being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker not allowing the vast majority of the house and representatives to get what they want. >> that sounds ridiculous f. it was a dictatorship boehner would have gotten that vote and he couldn' get the vote. what we should do honestly guys, is swan dive ov the fiscal cliff. let president obama own the fiscal cliff. it should be called the obama cliff. >> julia: people know how much they would have to pay. folks on the man on the street interviews . people are looking at the numbers going what. >> kelly: in today's meeting should be a crucial meet the white house should have come with its plan and boehner should have come with a plan and senator reid should come with a plan but senator reid is name call speaker of the house john boehner giving retaliation of what is done .

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